


Family

by scarletjedi



Series: cul de sac AU [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bikers, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Complete, F/M, I've been calling this my "dwarf biker and vegan hipster elf au 'verse", M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletjedi/pseuds/scarletjedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gloin muses about his son's odd little friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to proxydialogue for the beta!
> 
> This found life because of a prompt from the Hobbit Kink Meme tolkien offshoot. I'll link to the prompt Monday when I have access to a real computer. :)
> 
> aslo, the prompt--well, prompted--a whole universe of headcanon. don't be surprised if this becomes a thing.
> 
> Now with the tense problems fixed!!
> 
> You want more of me? Want to see my ramblings, fan works, and sneak peaks? Or is a story you love not updated when you expect it to be? Check out my [tumblr](scarletjedi.tumblr.com) for status updates and more!

Gimli started bringing the strange blond boy with the stranger name around towards the end of elementary school. The first time, Gloin was in the house by himself with a pulled muscle in his shoulder, so Hama was at their forge filling orders as renaissance faire season waits for no man. Gloin fiddled with the detail work of his more delicate leather pieces and monitored their website.

The boy was too thin, too polite for Gloin’s comfort, and didn't eat, but he was fierce with the archer character in Gimli’s favorite game (after a crash course in how to use the XBoX, because of course the boy’s father didn't believe in video games), and Gloin had never seen Gimli happier than when he made Legolas laugh so hard he snorted soda out of his nose. (Another thing—the boy drank a lot of soda. Probably didn't get _that_ at home, either).

Gloin was proven right when Legolas’s father, with the equally improbable name of _Thranduil_ (at least his and Gimli’s names came from family history), arrived to take the boy home. Thranduil was tall, dressed in thrift store clothes like it was _fashion_ and not necessity, and drove a white Prius. He looked down his nose at everything, from Gloin’s beard to his visible ink to the piercings in his ears and the chopper in the driveway, but softened slightly when Legolas told him that he’d finished his homework and that Gloin and his wife were, “Artisans, _Ada!_ ”

It was true. Gloin hated that title, though. Sounded pretentious. Especially when Thranduil said it.

Yet, Thranduil thanked him for watching his son, offered to host Gimli later in the week, and walked Legolas to his car in a way that told Gloin that the man put his son first. Later, Gloin would find out that Legolas’s mother had died when he was a baby, and that Thranduil was raising him by himself. Still, his job had odd hours, and it was actually a relief when Gloin offered to watch Legolas when Thranduil’s work (something to do with corporations and green power and Save the Trees!), meant he would be gone for long periods of time.

Over the years, subtle things changed. There were veggie burgers in the freezer and non-dairy butter in the fridge. Gloin and Hama learned to cook without eggs and wheat (something Hama threw herself into once she learned the severity of their son’s friend’s allergies), and Legolas ate with them a few times a week throughout middle school. His favorite soda had a spot in the pantry, and there was soy ice cream in the freezer.

As the boys traveled through middle school and into high school, Legolas shoot up like a weed and Gimli started getting his father’s bulk and whiskers. The boys spent more and more time at the house, playing with Gimli’s cousins, Kili and Fili, gaming and listening to music. Gimli took up guitar. Legolas sang like a bird. One day, they showed up out of breath. Gimli’s knuckles were scraped and he had a cut on his cheek, and Legolas was sporting a black eye. Gimli glowered, and told them of some stupid older boys in the park while Hama instructed Legolas to hold the steak to his eye (and Gloin saw that Legolas’s hands were just as abused.) Legolas’s good eye watched Gimli like he’s a hero, and Gloin noticed a new bracelet of braided rainbow thread.

They had Legolas’s favorite foods for dinner that night, and let the boys play video games until they pass out in front of the television.

Legolas stayed Gimli’s odd little friend until one day, after Gimli’s seventeenth birthday, Gloin came home early to find Gimli’s new bike (his son’s first motorcycle! A chopper, just like his father’s!), in the driveway. He opened his son’s door to make sure everything was okay, saw a long expanse of pale chest and more of his son’s hairy ass than he had since he was changing diapers, and shut the door.

Oh.

_Oh!_

There was a thumping racket—the boys reacting to the interruption by flailing and falling--and Gloin heard his son’s pained voice crack.

_”Dad!_

“I don’t want to hear it, smell it, or see it, and for fuck’s sake, you better be using a condom!” Gloin called through the door, and left to the sounds of Gimli dying of utter mortification. Gloin went downstairs into his brother’s apartment to drink and moan to Oin, because while he now realized that he’d viewed Legolas as a second since the first time he made his famous chili _vegan_ , he didn’t need to know his son’s sexual habits. Either of them.

They were both bright red at dinner, but held hands proudly. They even laughed when Hama teased them (and Gloin, too!) about getting caught. She even went so far as to tell them about the time she and Gloin’d gotten caught at cousin Dis’s wedding by baby Ori, making them giggle and Oin hoot.

“You are shameless, love,” Gloin said while the others laughed. Hama grinned at him, and Gloin once again saw the girl who caught his eye with her beauty, and then captured his heart with the skill of her hammers. Gloin kissed her gladly, in a way he hadn’t done in front of Gimli since the lad was too young to sit up by himself, and when Gimli protested, Oin stepped in.

“You’re old enough to get caught, you’re old enough to see your parents in love,” Oin said. “That’s the beauty of family.”

Gloin tipped his bottle as his brother, and tucked into his meal.

_Aye. Family._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Family [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5394905) by [Morvidra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morvidra/pseuds/Morvidra)




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